Aug 31, 2007

Michelle Obama is indeed coming to London on October 15 for three fundraisers at the Landmark Hotel. Below is the link/invitation for the $2300 and $1000 events. Admission to the events will be the printout of the contribution confirmation and your passport.

Aug 30, 2007

Governor Rick Perry stayed the execution, which was scheduled for this evening, and commuted Foster's sentence to life... Read more.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry said in a statement.

"I am concerned about Texas law that allowed capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine."

Editor's Note: As of this writing (8/29/2007 2:55 PM), the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is still deliberating the fate of Kenneth Foster, Jr.

According to Keith Hampton, Foster's lawyer, "We need four board members to be in favor of clemency in order for them to make the recommendation to the Governor. Then it is at the Governor's discretion whether to commute his sentence."

My telephone interview with Keith Hampton was cut short when a call came in from Kenneth Foster, Sr., father of the condemned young man.

As a human rights advocate and a man of faith, I ask for your 11th Hour prayer for the life of Kenneth Foster, Jr., a young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.

Yesterday a Brief of Amicus Curiae on behalf of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu was filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Petition of Certiorari filed by Kenneth Foster's criminal attorney Keith Hampton.

The Supreme Court is now poised to decide on Hampton's cert petition for Foster on Wednesday, August 29. Hampton has basically asked the Court to intervene and fix the irreversible mistakes the lower courts have made in this case. Hampton's petition argues that the Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) wrongly decided that Kenneth is death eligible when it dismissed the writ petition Hampton filed in the CCA at court on August 7 and asks the Supreme Court to invoke its own original jurisdiction and exercise its supervisory powers over the lower courts.

"The Archbishop's support sends a very clear and strong signal to the Court and it's incredible that someone with such international regard and moral authority has come forward for Kenneth," Hampton commented. "I'm very encouraged."

President Jimmy Carter also came out yesterday in support of Foster. He wrote a letter to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking Perry to spare Foster's life.

Foster's legal team and supporters hope that the support of such credible world leaders will influence the Governor and help win the four votes needed on the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the majority of the Supreme Court in Foster's favor.

The Save Kenneth Foster Campaign, along with Foster's legal team and thousands of people around the world, has petitioned the Governor and Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency. The case has received considerable local, regional, and national media attention and public support for Foster has been pronounced.

Kenneth has been on Texas' death row since 1997 for the shooting death of Michael LaHood, Jr. Foster did not shoot the gun that ended LaHood's life, but was driving the car carrying the actual triggerman, Mauriceo Brown.

Foster was convicted and sentenced to death under the Law of Parties, which allows the state to seek convictions for those present at the scene of a crime as if they had committed it. Since Foster's original trial, the other men in the car that night have testified that Foster had no idea LaHood would be shot.

If no relief is forthcoming from the state or the Court, Foster faces execution on August 30.

Tom McNamara told Francis L. Holland about this breaking news story on the eve of the Day of Blogging for Justice:

School bans 'disruptive' shirts29/08/2007 19:41 - (SA)

Louisiana - Officials at a Louisiana high school have banned T-shirts supporting six black students accused of beating of a white schoolmate, saying the shirts are too disruptive.

The six students were charged with attempted murder, which has led to outrage in the black community and drawn attention from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is monitoring the cases.

Racial tensions surfaced last fall when students found three nooses hanging from a tree on campus that a black student had tried to sit under.

Three white students were suspended, but no criminal charges were filed.

About nine students at Jena High School wore the "Free the Jena 6" T-shirts on Tuesday, and the slogan caused too much commotion on campus, said LaSalle Parish Schools Superintendent Roy Breithaupt said.

John Jenkins said his three daughters wore the shirts to make a statement, not to cause trouble.

"They weren't doing anything other than wearing the shirts," Jenkins said. "The school doesn't have a dress code. They were covered. They're trying to tell them what they can and can't wear."

His son, Carwin Jones, is one of the six students charged in the December 2006 beating of 18-year-old Justin Barker. Barker was treated in hospital for a swollen and cut face and released the same day.

One of the students, Mychal Bell, 17, was convicted on a reduced charge of aggravated second-degree battery and faces up to 22 years in prison. The other five teens are awaiting trial on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.

Aug 28, 2007

Eddie Griffin, an awesome man in Texas who works tirelessly to help ex-offenders (he is one subjected to mindgames by the CIA while imprisoned) and our youth put the word out about this podcast tomorrow, on the 2nd anniversary of when the levees broke in New Orleans.

The show will be broadcast on the 2nd anniversary of Katrina, Wednesday, August 29th at 8:00 pm CST. That's the Passion4Life Talk Radio Show. There you will find the call-in number, however you can listen without calling in.

Aug 27, 2007

What does Black Pride look like nowadays? Who are our heroes or do they even exist in this day and age? Do people of color have a messiah complex? These are just a few questions that we will attempt to answer this Thursday at 9pm. Please take a long hard look at the interview with Malcolm X. One might think it a difficult supposition that Black conservatives often look to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz as a template for self-reliance-just ask Clarence Thomas. Some may interpret our last show on Black English as being antithetical to Black pride but I respectfully disagree. Malcolm X's erudite and alliterative oratorical prowess proves my point. But I will save my musings for the broadcast. We want to hear from our readers/listeners so drop us a line at: 646-915-9620 or via IM/email courtesy of afronerd radio dot com. Get all the juicy details about it by clicking the following link.

My friend Shola in Stockolm sent me this information about a fascinating project in Norway:

The project Africans in Norway is a historical project, which aims to document and present the history of the African presence in Norway during the period from 1600 to present. The project was initiated in response to the need to disseminate balanced information about the African Diaspora. The research work has three distinct, yet integrated outcomes; written material, exhibitions and a website.

Aug 24, 2007

Exhibits at the new International Slavery Museum in Liverpool span the sufferings endured by slaves to the achievements realized by people of African heritage worldwide. (Jonathan Player for The New York Times)

LIVERPOOL: The riverside docks here, now a gentrified quarter, were a critical pivot in the trans-Atlantic slave trade when this city rose from seedy port to rich entrepôt in the 17th century.

From Liverpool, traders sailed forth with guns and metals to sell in Africa, and from the proceeds bought slaves for the flourishing markets in the Americas. After the merchants sold their human cargo, their ships returned home brimming with sugar, cotton, coffee and tobacco.

To commemorate and, more important, elucidate this dark passage of the city's past, the International Slavery Museum opened here Thursday, part of a series of events across Britain on the bicentenary of the 1807 British law that banned the slave trade.

The windows at this compact museum's entrance, on the third floor of a refurbished Victorian warehouse, overlook the gray and blustery Mersey River; it is a vista that conjures the sailing ships, hard-nosed traders, sailors, African and Asian servants, and runaways who journeyed to Africa.

But rather than focus on the local story, Richard Benjamin, who directs the new museum and is a Briton of Guyanese descent, takes a different tack. Under his guidance, some of the museum exhibits thrust the visitor directly into the cultures of West Africa, emphasizing that many slaves came from a proud heritage that continues to thrive. Its aim is to be an educational institution rather than primarily a repository of important artifacts.

As it releases the results of a two-year investigation, which reveals for the first time the full scale of the workplace penalties faced by Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean women, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is today calling for a fundamental cultural shift in the way black and Asian women are treated at work and by public policy makers.

Moving on Up: Ethnic Minority Women at Work, the largest investigation of its kind in Great Britain, has established that Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean women face significantly greater penalties than white women in the workplace. Those who want to work are finding it more difficult to get jobs, progress within them and are more likely to be segregated into certain types of work, despite leaving school with the same career aspirations as white girls and similar or better qualifications than white boys.

In areas with above average numbers of black and Asian women participating in the local labour market, BME women are entirely absent from 3 out of 10 workplaces and under-represented in almost 3 out of 5 workplaces. The EOC's report suggests it's not too late to set the country on a different course. 28% of employers surveyed said they intended to introduce steps to improve the recruitment and progression of black and Asian women. However, the same percentage said they were unsure what action to take.

The EOC is today urging Britain’s employers and policy makers to catch up with the diversity of modern Britain and develop ‘cultural intelligence’ - the awareness, understanding and confidence to communicate and relate positively to people from different cultural backgrounds, to get the best from them at work and design policy that meets their needs.

The EOC warns that cultural intelligence is absolutely crucial if Britain is to avoid paying a high economic and social price. Between 2001 and 2020, ethnic minority people are expected to account for over 70% of the growth in the UK population aged 16-59. With Britain’s employers facing skills shortages, it is crucial to tap into a growing and increasingly well-qualified pool of young Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean women's talent if we are to maintain economic growth.

And with access to jobs being a key ingredient of community cohesion, policy makers will fail to build stronger communities unless black and Asian women's skills and ambitions translate into better-paid jobs in a wider range of organisations.

Aug 23, 2007

Thank you to the EU for trying to talk sense into the Americans who govern the state of Texas. But they seem to be pretty hard headed and determined to be the number one state for captial punishment. The full story is here, cross posted from the AfroSpear blog.

Aug 21, 2007

In a tall, blond government, a small black woman like Nyamko Sabuni was always going to stand out.

It is, though, the former refugee’s outspoken views that have demanded attention in her adopted Sweden, where she wants a ban on the veil for under-15s and compulsory gynaecological checks for all schoolgirls to protect against genital mutilation masquerading as “female circumcision”.

Her views have led to death threats and round-the-clock protection in Europe’s most tolerant country.

Being appointed Minister for Integration and Equality in the right-wing Government provoked a petition signed by 50 Muslim organisations declaring that she “breathed populism and Islamophobia”.

Aug 18, 2007

I really appreciate your support and thanks to your votes I am a finalist in two categories for a 2007 Black Weblog Award. I'd really appreciate it if you too the time to vote again (deadline August 31st). I"m in the Best Business Blog and Best international Blog categories. Thanks again.

Josephine Baker sashayed onto a Paris stage during the 1920s with a comic, yet sensual appeal that took Europe by storm. Famous for barely-there dresses and no-holds-barred dance routines, her exotic beauty generated nicknames "Black Venus," "Black Pearl" and "Creole Goddess." Admirers bestowed a plethora of gifts, including diamonds and cars, and she received approximately 1,500 marriage proposals. She maintained energetic performances and a celebrity status for 50 years until her death in 1975. Unfortunately, racism prevented her talents from being wholly accepted in the United States until 1973.

Aug 10, 2007

The AfroSpear continues to evolve from its origin a few short months ago when it was created. This post describes the evolution of the AfroSpear as it was begat by the Afrosphere that was begat from the Blackosphere that was begat from the blogosphere. Check this post out to learn what is happening in the Afrosphere.

Aug 6, 2007

Moving to a new country is often daunting, but this sister in Sweden is easing the transition with her magazine.

South of Sweden (SOS) is an English language lifestyle & business magazine for the Öresund’s growing international community. Published monthly SOS focuses on cultural, recreational, and commercial issues. Our contributors write in-depth narratives, business profiles, stories on the region's emerging trends as well as offer up insight and opinion on living in Sweden. In addition to covering lifestyle topics such as health, shopping and sports the magazine also has an up-to-date guide on all the cultural activities in the region.

Aug 5, 2007

I'm a bit late with this post but still wanted to share the good news! Young, one of the most talked about juniors in recent years, picked up his second junior Grand Slam singles title at the All England Club, while Brengle has now finished runner-up in the girls' draw in two of the year's first three majors.

Coming into the boys’ tournament, Young was ranked 292nd in the ATP rankings and was seeded third in the draw. He posted two come-from-behind wins in his six matches during the week and defeated the boys' top seed, Ignatik Uladzimir of Belarus, 7-5, 6-1, for the title.

Number your paper from 1-30, you're not at school, so don't cheat! 150-160- Pimp/Diva145-150 Coolest of all your friends130-145 Grew up in the 80's but your brain cells are shot120-130 You were sheltered.Below 120 You Suck!! and you're not black.

1. What is George and Weezie's daughter-in-law's name?2. Before the pit-bull craze in the mid 80's, which dog had the best chance to jump the fence and then bite your ass? (will accept 2 answers) 3. Which Frankie Beverly and Maze song means "the bar is closing"? 4. How many girls do you need for Hide and Go Get It?5. How did Penny's mother abuse her daughter. Who's mother is she in real life?6. What network did Jayne Kennedy work for as a newscaster?7. What is the true name of the High Top Fade haircut? (named after a city)8. Which scene in the movie "Roots" makes everybody mad? 9. Who is the only white female R&B singer to be considered one of us? (80's) 10. What is Wesley Snipes' most famous character's name?11. Finish the statement... "Shut up for I give you _________ to ___ for!"12. What color is the Care Free Curl bottle?13. "Black is _________."14. What adjective was used to describe that government job?15. What was the most popular color of somebody's mouth after eating Now and Laters?16. What was the most popular color of somebody's mouth after drinking Kool Aid?17. Which was lengthier, Video Soul or Video Vibrations?18. What was Fred Sanford's middle initial?19. Who sho is ugly!?20. What did you do when your pants turned into highwaters?21. Pumpkin or Sweet Potato?22. "Lift Every _____ and ____."23. Name all four singers on the Secret Garden .24. Who was the 1st black Miss America ?25. What 4 letter word is the name of what your grandma used to fry meat with?26. Name the 2 brands of cigarettes smoked by n*gg*z throughout the generations.27. What was the word "bumpin" used to describe?28. What is Tussy?29. What complexion was the girl that smelled like pee?30. Who remade the classic "In the Rain" by the Dramatics?

BONUS QUESTION-10 pointsWhat was the pimp's name in "The Mack" who Goldie killed because he thought this guy killed his mother?

Aug 2, 2007

I know I am six months late with this but I just got a message from Bill at Jewels in the Jungle about my BEST post and he invited me to check out his blog. Well not only did I check it out, I devoured it, and I want to share it with you, starting with this post about Black History Month in Europe.

He also told me this: I just found some new stuff online today in re: to what happened to Amo's Ghost (Anton Wilhelm Amo (1704-1784), the first black African 18th Century philosopher and medical doctor to be educated at university in Europe and to instruct at two famous German universities as a full professor). There is a new book coming out soon about the life of Amo and I had a chance to get a sneak preview of a few excerpts. Shocking stuff!

Twitter

Created by an African American expatriate in Europe as a place to celebrate women in the African Diaspora living in Europe. Sisters around the world unite! It ain't where you're from it's where you're at.

I blog because I want to raise the positive profile of Black Women in Europe. In addition to this blog I created a social network for us so that we can support each other.

I also have a lens on Squidoo and will give 40% of my earnings to the Jackie Robinson Foundation and another 40% to the Room to Read Charity. Take a look at my lens and spread the word.